[PHOTO] Bronze Bust of Napoleon III, Farmer's Bank of Rustico

This bronze bust of Napoleon III was an unlikely centrepiece of the Farmer's Bank of Rustico collection. Napoleon III was a patron of the Acadians, it turns out.

The Bust of Napoleon III unveiled at a special ceremony held at St. Augustine's Church on Saturday, April 3, 2004, with representation of the various groups present as part of the 400th Anniversary Celebrations. The Bust of Napoleon III was commissioned by the Friends of the Farmers' Bank of Rustico and Les Amis de Napoleon III of Paris, France. Napoleon was a Patron of the Acadians of Rustico whose financial donations helped construct the Farmers' Bank, a Carilion of Bells for St. Augustine's Church, and a set of French books on the topics of Science, Agriculture and Economics.

The local priest, Georges-Antoine Belcourt, played a particularly important role.

Robert Pichette's 1998 Napoléon III, L’Acadie et le Canada français goes into book-length detail, while Francis C. Blanchard's French-language article at the website of the Musée acadien is shorter.

[BLOG] Some Thursday links

• blogTO comes up with a list of the top 20 novels set in Toronto and presents a few Toronto laneways and their etymologies.


• Centauri Dreams examines the protoplanetary disc of protostar L1527.


• The Financial Times' World blog suggests that Italy and its new prime minister should look to Mexico for inspiration.


• Marginal Revolution links to the Economist's cover article lamenting Argentina's relative economic decline.


• The Planetary Society Blog explains why Pluto's dust and moons weren't seen before they were actually discovered, just a few years ago. (Telescope time is key.)


• The Power and the Money's Noel Maurer notes first-hand experiences of Albanian politics and politicians.


• Strange Maps shares a map of Kiev's divisions between protesters and government as of yesterday.


• Window on Eurasia wonders if Russia post-Ukraine will crack down on its creative classes.


• Wonkman points out that the entry of women into the workplace has much to do with inescapable economic reasons that aren't addressed by people who want women to go back.

[MUSIC] Kon Kan, "I Beg Your Pardon"

I'm very good at identifying what song by what group is currently playing on Boom 97.3--technically CHBM-FM, an adult hits station playing songs from the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s--but I was stymied by one sample-heavy song. It was only when I googled the lyrics that I discovered it was a Canadian song, an international hit at that: Kon Kan's 1989 "I Beg Your Pardon".

"Kon Kan - I Beg Your Pardon" (Watch on YouTube)

"I Beg Your Pardon" is very much a one-hit wonder song from the 1980s, the synths and the samples being particularly diagnostic. (I was not surprised to find out from Wikipedia that this song was inspired by the Pet Shop Boys' "Always On My Mind", and by the wave of sample-heavy near-novelty songs that began popping up in the late 1980s.) It's not a bad song for all that; I like the contrast between vocalist Kevin Wynne's spoke-sung lyrics and the various sampled vocals.